Living with the Dangerous Beast-Chapter 18: That Must Be Why

Shuddering, Sohwa felt lost in thought.

‘No way... No... it can’t be.’

As she fidgeted with the collar, she suddenly heard Dohwi bringing the meal.

He seemed ready to take it to her bedroom, so she quickly set down the collar and waved him over.

“Dohwi, let’s eat here. It would be nice to enjoy our meal outside once in a while.”

But the sight of that cursed cherry tree made her lose her appetite.

Dohwi, clicking his tongue, set down the heavy-laden table before her.

“You lost it again. How did that happen?”

He was referring to the lone flower shoe on the floor.

“...Huh?”

Still in a daze, Sohwa hadn’t fully regained her composure.

Dohwi, fixing his gaze on the flower shoe, met her eyes and asked calmly.

“Did you go out?”

His voice, low and gentle, seemed to come from a deep cave, but his icy stare felt as if it would strip her to the bone.

Sohwa lowered her gaze and nodded, clutching her chopsticks. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

Then came the stern voice again, this time more like a scolding.

“Alone?”

It was a condensed version of the warning he had always given her: ‘I told you not to leave alone.’

Completely losing her appetite, Sohwa set down her spoon and finally opened her mouth.

“Dohwi, actually, I met a red fox named Miho while wandering the mountain earlier.”

“A friend?”

Dohwi, with a dry tone, tilted his chin slightly, encouraging her to continue. He didn’t seem particularly surprised.

“But that fox asked why I was carrying a poisonous plant that dulls the sense of smell. Ranunculus, I think?”

When she pretended not to care, Dohwi continued to stare at her without blinking.

“Really?”

Sohwa got scared by his calm and brazen attitude, as if he had nothing to hide.

“C-Could it be that the sachet you gave me....”

Unable to finish her sentence, Sohwa fell silent as Dohwi sighed and placed a plump chicken leg in front of her.

Normally, she would have salivated at the sight of the juicy meat, but now she only waited for Dohwi to speak.

“Yes, it was a herb that dulls the sense of smell.”

He admitted it plainly, leaving Sohwa speechless.

She should have asked why he gave her something so horrible, but his confident demeanor shocked her into silence.

“But... Why?”

“It’s not the first time foxes have came to this mountain, Sohwa. You just didn’t know.”

Contrary to what Sohwa thought, Mount Yeehwang was not geographically ideal for foxes. There were no other predators, but the human village below was a significant drawback.

For foxes, hunters were more threatening than predators like tigers.

Despite that, there was a reason foxes kept coming here.

“Stupid male foxes, pushed out by food competition, have been coming here for years... I had no choice. I had to keep their dirty paws off of you.”

“So you hid my scent to protect me?”

It was a tentative question, though what she really wanted to ask was if he was trying to hide his own scent from her.

Dohwi nodded calmly, meeting her eyes. At the same time, his lips slowly curled into a somewhat sly smile.

“It seems like your mating season never ends, judging by the smell.”

His tone was polite, like a scholar, but it was enough to make Sohwa blush.

He meant that her scent, calling to males, reached even to him.

“Does your body keep heating up?”

The low question made her ears burn. Unable to avoid his intense gaze, Sohwa’s hands trembled as if facing a predator.

Dohwi smiled lightly.

“Your food will get cold. Let’s talk after we eat, OK?”

With his gentle smile, the tense atmosphere dissipated, returning to the normal, laid-back version of Dohwi.

Dohwi handed her the large chicken leg, but her appetite was long gone.

She thought her heat lasted only a few days in the winter, but apparently, it wasn’t the case.

The thought that she had been spreading her scent throughout the seasons made her sigh.

“...You must have had a hard time.”

Even though they were of different species, her scent must have been unpleasant for Dohwi.

She too had often been annoyed by the musty smell of badgers during their short mating season in winter.

Living with a fox in heat all year round must have been unbearable.

‘That must be why.’

She decided to understand all of Dohwi’s baffling actions, chalking them up to this reason.

After all, once she parted ways with Dohwi, she wouldn’t have to worry about these things anymore.

Hearing his definitive response, Sohwa finally made up her mind.

“Dohwi, I can no longer take care of you.”

At that moment, Dohwi’s hand, which had been skillfully deboning the chicken breast, stopped abruptly.

His glance, swift and precise like an arrow finding its target, flicked toward her.